Liquidator aims for quick sale of newspaper business

QUEENSLAND Media Holdings Pty Ltd, publisher of the Mackay Telegraph, is $1.5 million in debt and could soon have a new owner.

The troubled media company is no longer in the hands of its directors after the Mackay Supreme Court ordered insolvency management company BRI Ferrier be appointed its liquidator.

BRI Ferrier principal Moira Carter yesterday confirmed the level of debt and said they had elected to continue to trade the Mackay Telegraph for a "fairly short time" with the hopes of selling it to maximise return to creditors.

"We've had a number of interested parties," she said. Ms Carter said if the paper failed to sell they would have to shut it down.

"We want to get it on the market as quickly as possible," she said.

Union organisers have raised concerns for staff at the Mackay Telegraph.

Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance North Queensland organiser Linda Grinter yesterday said the union was still trying to make contact with the financially-stricken media company's management and its journalists.

"We've been trying to get in touch with people. Our biggest concern is that people are paid out fairly all their entitlements ... if it does happen that the paper is closed down," she said.

A company can be forced into liquidation by its shareholders, creditors or the court if it's in financial difficulty.

One creditor of Queensland Media Holdings is owed $270,000, a Mackay court was told on Monday.